Plainswalkin’ #3: Blood Hunger Guide (Part 3 of 3)

Here’s another edition of “Plainswalkin” (my goodness, that sounds bad now). Today I will be talking about some general strategies and decklists for Blood Hunger. Before that, though, I’d like to write a conclusion to last week’s article, which explains my thoughts when playing the deck. Lets go!

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Conclusion

Here was my decklist, for starters:

The big thing I thought while piloting the deck was hit big or don’t hit. With this deck, you can set up a very reliable amount of 2/2s and 1/1s quite easily, all the meanwhile pinging your opponent’s life total. Even when your opponent has a big creature, you usually have a Spread the Sickness to deal with it. This deck can demolish slow decks (Ancient Depths) and easily crush decks that stumble a bit on the road (Realm of Illusion) but has trouble with other weenie decks (Guardians of the Wood).

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Matchup Guide

As a whole, this deck felt very powerful to pilot – as I said, it kills slower players and can play foot with other midrange decks. If I were to put a matchup guide, then it would be like this. Note that I haven’t played against some of these decks so some are based in inferring.

*****: This is a good matchup for you – the deck is slow or has problems with it’s mana curve.

***: This is an average matchup for you – really 50-50.

*: This is a bad matchup for you – either the deck is faster than yours or has too many answers for your spells.

Unquenchable Fire – (*) The amount of burn in this deck is insane. You have to be really lucky to win a match like this, as UF is the bane of all weenie decks.

Apex Predators – (*****) Simply put, this deck is too slow for what you’re trying to do. By the time he gets his fatty out, you’ve already Spread the Sicknessed it. Also, this deck usually focuses on one big creature, making all your Gatekeepers more effective and letting more of your weenies punch through the line.

Wielding Steel – (*) You can’t blow up their equipment. You have no enchantment removal. They have tappers and have slightly faster creatures. I would not expect to win against a good player who pilots this deck.

Realm of Illusion – (***) This deck can be beaten quite easily, but the success of you beating this deck depends if they get a Lord of the Unreal out. If they do, you’re probably toast. If they don’t/removal in hand then you can keep plowing on them.

Ancient Depths – (*****) This deck is quite easy to beat, as long as you have a fast hand. A Kraken Hatchling or Coiling Oracle might stunt your beatdown, but on a whole this deck is also quite easy to beat and has the problem of focusing on one big creature like Apex Predators, so your Gatekeepers can take the bait.

Strength of Stone – (***) I’m not really sure what to make of this deck. It has some scary burn (which actually wiped out my vampires in one game) but on a whole this deck is kinda slow for Blood Hunger. I need more information.

Guardians of the Wood – (*) This deck as a whole just beats down faster and has a larger token theme than Blood Hunger, which means more creatures on their side. Couple that with a few removal spells and spells to help you win the stall-war (Might of the Masses)

Dragon’s Roar – (***) Once again I am not sure what to make of this deck. It doesn’t really look deadly to me – I would have a positive outlook while facing this deck. I need more information.

Blood Hunger – (***) It all depends on your opponent and what cards he has mainboarded. You can get into a large board stall with this deck easily, so be careful. Save your removal (Spreads) for the 6-cost vampires. Flying is a key factor in this matchup – if you can get Nighthawks out quickly, your opponent is pretty much dead.

Machinations – (****) The only 4 star matchup for this deck, that means it’s somewhere between good and average. This deck has a lot of bad quality early cards but has some higher quality late cards. Don’t let them assemble metalcraft since you don’t have artifact removal. This deck is quite swingy – if they get a Master of Etherium you’re dead.

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Decklist Ideas

Here are some ideas to consider while piloting Blood Hunger. I have not tested some of them extensively enough, but you should get a feel for each build.

Prophylaxis’s Build

A line between bloodthirst and vampires. I like this build well enough, but you can probably improve it by adding a third Tormented Soul to replace the Quag Vampires and possibly reducing the Feast of Bloods.

Just vampires; no bloodthirst (well, very little). I haven’t tested this extensively, so feel free to offer improvements. Feast of Blood is very strong in this deck.

That’s it! Join me next week as I review Realm of Illusion, Jace’s baby deck. I will also put up a poll to see which deck you want me to review after that. Good luck!